He took a step forward, knelt, laid his hands on the altar,
closed his eyes and turned his face upward.

"Our Heavenly Father, we come before Thee in a trying situation,"
he said. "Thy word of truth has been spoken to us by a
thoughtless boy, whether in a spirit of helpfulness or of jest,
Thou knowest. Since we are reasoning creatures, it little
matters in what form Thy truth comes to us; the essential thing
is that we soften our hearts for its entrance, and grow in grace
by its application. Tears of compassion such as our dear Saviour
wept are in our eyes this morning as we plead with Thee to help
us to apply these words to the betterment of this community."

Then father began to pray. If the Lord had been standing six
feet in front of him, and his life had depended on what he said,
he could have prayed no harder. Goodness knows how fathers
remember. He began at "Jesus wept" and told about this sinful
world and why He wept over it; then one at a time he took those
other twelve verses and hammered them down where they belonged
much harder than Leon ever could by merely looking at people.
After that he prayed all around each one so fervently that those
who had been hit the very worst cried aloud and said: "Amen!"
You wouldn't think any one could do a thing like that; but I
heard and saw my father do it.

When he arose the tears were running down his cheeks, and before
him stood Leon. He was white as could be, but he spoke out
loudly and clearly.

"Please forgive me, sir; I didn't intend to hurt your feelings.